KEIRON Cunningham was pleased with the win over Salford Red Devils at Langtree Park on Friday.
Saints won 34-20 to rise to fourth in the First Utility Super League table.
“I thought it was a really good performance from us coming off the back of a short turnaround,” he said. “Through the middle we were good and the scoreline didn’t justify the game in my eyes. I thought we should have been comfortable at half time. If Mark Percival had been more clinical and Adam Swift hadn’t missed the last eight weeks then we could have been three tries in front.
“Salford hung on in there and fought – we were resilient on the back of that, defended back to back sets and scored.
“There were some soft tries and errors but we dug deep and showed that resilience and effort. The game could have gone away from us at 22-20 but we worked hard and brought it home nicely. I thought we were deserved winners.
“Louie (McCarthy-Scarsbrook) was brilliant, as was Kyle Amor. They are the cornerstones of our pack. Alex Walmsley was back to his best at times too whilst young Morgan Knowles keeps getting better. He is 18 and plays like a senior player.
“Dom Peyroux did well in the second row. We tried to pick our best defensive team and I thought Dom came up well and complemented that middle unit.
“Jon Wilkin runs his blood to water each week and between him and Louie you can’t go far short of a man of the match.”
He continued: “There were lots of positives from the game on the back of a bitter pill to swallow last week. Credit to the fans too for what they did. They came out in their hoards and supported the team.
“The Cup means a lot to us. I grew up as a kid running around with a ball pretending I was playing at Wembley. I always favoured that comp and we have an affiliation with it here. It hurts and we have been hurting all week.
“Our league form is good over the last four or five games. We know where we are as a club and we know where we have to go. The best way to get over last week was to get a good win and we did that.
“Credit to the lads who worked hard to make that happen. We know where we are at and where we have to head. We now look forward to tackling Huddersfield on Sunday.”
Cunningham says that Jonny Lomax came off the field with a knee injury during the second half which will be checked out in the next day or two.
He confirmed that the medical staff aren’t too concerned about its severity.
